Most of the workers in this country are at will employees who have no protection from the tyranny of their employers, and no recourse to the law when they are unjustly fired, as so many are. Yet they are too timid and too frightened to rebel. The situation demands bold action. The streets should be filled with angry and indignant protestors committing acts of civil disobedience, economic disruption and sabotage against an unjust system of wage slavery. But the masses remain well behaved, resigned to their fate of servitude; content with the few morsels that fall from the tables of the rich. There should be social unrest, angry mobs in the streets that refuse to go away and a revival of revolutionary unionism.
What do I mean by revolutionary unionism? I mean unions that fight like hell for the rights of workers and take no prisoners. Unions that recognize most employers as the enemy of workers they are. I mean unions that strike fear into the hearts of the employers; unions that seek to overthrow capitalism and to remake society in the image of the worker rather than the ruling elite. I am talking about radical, militant in your face organizing on a global scale that unites working class people against Plutocratic rule.
How can we forget a history of class struggle that we have never known? The four men who were foremost in the fight for the eight hour work day, which included Albert Parsons and August Spies, were hung in the streets of Chicago in November of 1887. The eight hour work day did not become law in the U.S. until 1938 when it was enacted as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Our government is killing millions of innocent civilians, people like us in every part of the planet, while laying waste to the world for the private gain of a few. The people should be up in arms. But there is hardly a whimper of protest. We can hardly pry the average citizen away from American Idol and Survivor; much less get them into the streets to demand an end to wage slavery and to fight for social justice. What does this say about the conscience of the American people? Where is the courage? Where is the righteous indignation that is demanded by the times? Where is the solidarity that once characterized working class people? Why do we choose to live on our knees rather than stand on our feet and fight for what we know is right?
We are a disgrace to the legacy forged by the workers who came before us and sacrificed so much—to Joe Hill, Frank Little, Sid Hatfield, Albert Parsons, Mary Harris, Lucy Parsons, Big Bill Haywood, Daniel DeLeon and Eugene Debs.
Why do we tolerate the intolerable evil that manifests itself in the neocon cabal that is running the world and appears to be intent upon destroying all of us? Are our minds so numbed, our souls so empty that we cannot even lift a finger to resist? Are we so selfish as a people that we can think only of our own comfort while ignoring the suffering imposed upon others in our name? How can any just person allow their government to invade sovereign nations, to slaughter its people and to subject them to lives of terror and unimaginable indignities? How can we allow this to continue and call it liberation and democracy? The perversion of language is sickening. What in the hell is wrong with us? Do we enjoy licking the boots of men like George Bush and Adolph Hitler? Spit in their eye and blacken the other, I say!
We would behave differently if it was our country that was being bombed to rubble by a foreign power. But since it is not, we callously ignore the evil that is done in our name. We go on with our lives as if the lives of Muslims, whose names we do not know, whose faces we never see, do not matter. According to Gary Null, the U.S. is responsible for the death of 1.2 million Iraqis alone. And Iraq is only one of the one hundred and thirty-five nations occupied by the U.S. forces. How can we fail to fathom the incalculable pain and misery we are sowing around the world? Will we ever learn that might does not make right? Only justice makes right.
Millions of workers in France are filling the streets and committing acts of civil disobedience because they can be fired by their employers without reason. They have joined the ranks of at will employees. Have we regressed into a nation of obedient sheep, incapable of making trouble? American workers should be in the streets demonstrating solidarity with our French brethren. We should be in the streets with our Latino brothers and sisters razing hell. We should be there with Cindy Sheehan. Why does ninety-nine percent of the population consent to be ruled by the other one percent? Why are we so damned polite and servile? Were our backbones removed at birth? Were we born without conscience, without a sense of right and wrong? Do we exist only to consume goods; to serve as canon fodder in imperialism’s wars?
Too many working people are ignorant of their own history and thus lack historical perspective and understanding. The struggles of working class people against the ruling elite, while often difficult to read because of the sense of rage it engenders, is also a history of hope. It shows us the way through organized struggle, direct action and civil disobedience. Little wonder, then, that the official keepers of history want to keep it secret. It might give people the idea that something can be done about oppression and injustice. It might even inspire them to take action and that is a very dangerous proposition to those in power. Peace, justice, and worker emancipation are born of struggle. They will not magically appear as a gift from our oppressors. Freedom is not given, it is won.
The genius of capitalism, if something so insidious may be called that, is that it provides just enough material comfort and hope for enough people to keep them from rebelling. If there is more than a small shift in the people’s level of comfort and hope, things could quickly change. Open rebellion—revolution—might even be possible. Capitalism must keep the carrot, the promise of a better life; a more just and equitable way of living, just beyond the grasp of the working class people. Betterment must appear not only possible, but probable, in order to keep the masses striving and thus under control. If the ruling class is to maintain the elite status proffered by capitalism, the working class must never realize that they are playing the game with a marked deck. The system allows only a few winners. Workers were never meant to have pie in the sky—that is only for the privileged elite.
Under the oppressive weight of capitalism, workers will never receive their fair share of the wealth they create for their employers. Eugene Debs once calculated that the average worker receives no more than seventeen percent of the wealth she/he creates. Capitalism is all about maximizing corporate profitability by exploiting the workers and the earth. It is capitalism that is waging war on working class people in every nation on earth. And now the parasites running the country are drawing up plans to bomb yet another sovereign nation that poses no threat to us, perhaps with nuclear munitions. How many more sons and daughters will have to die before we awaken from our stupor? Are we even capable of awakening? Where is the moral outrage that should be finding expression in the streets?
Why are we so afraid to acknowledge that U.S. aggression is interrelated with capitalism, class privilege, war profiteering and worker abuse in every part of the world? Are we just going to sit quietly in our living rooms before the television’s tiny light while the world burns? It appears so.
Yesterday morning as I sat having breakfast with my wife, I looked out the window and noticed some birds hovering in the air. It quickly became apparent that there was some contention between them. At first a single crow was bravely diving at a Red-tailed Hawk that was apparently hunting in the vicinity of her nest. The crow was quickly joined by her mate; then another crow and yet another joined in the chase. In just a few minutes there were many crows involved, although their nests were not threatened, and the hawk was noisily driven off. We could learn something from those crows.
Charles Sullivan is a photographer, social activist and free lance writer residing in the hinterland of West Virgina.
Charles Sullivan sounds like me in 1946. I have been there and done that. If we are to have a revolution let it be against the corporations. Corporations built up The Russian steel industry and bought the Brown Shirts for Hitler's stormtroopers. General Motors and Ford had factories in Germany building tiger tanks for the Nazis while they provided us with the Sherman that you could blow up with a panzerfaust, (German bazooka). They hung a lot of war criminals and a lot of commissars are out of a job, but the same corporations are still doing business as merchants of death.
The problem is not capitalism or a ruling class. Condoleeza Rice has an oil tanker named for her and is a Black lady from Mississipi. Is she a member of the capitalist class? If the answer is yes anybody can get into the capitalist class. Read Joel Bakan's book The Corporation or get a DVD of the movie. Corporations have all of the rights you have except the vote. The corporation is a robot. Unlike Isaac Azimov's robot that had a prime directive,(Thou shalt not harm a human being. The corporation prime directive is thou shall adhere to the bottom line. Humans are weak and can be bribed and bought and sold like potatoes and the corporation has the money to do it.
There can not be a socialist economy. There is only one economy possible and that is a market economy. The corporations are as much an enemy of the free market as are the socialists. The corporation is a sociopath and is run by people who have to accept corporate greed as their operating principle or go home. Nobody owns these monsters. They were made that way to seperate ownership from liability. This is a violation of common law. The same Supreme Court that decided Dred Scott was property and should be returned to his master because he was property was the same supreme court that decided a corporation was a legal individual because nobody owned it. The people of the world are at the mercy of these behemoths as surely as if they were conquered by enemy alien robots. Corporations can not be reformed because they are structured to be instruments of greed. They must be eliminated.
I too was exhilerated by the sight of millions of people on the streets for immigration. I wondered what would happen if somebody yelled - "GET A ROPE". It will happen. We are not going to let our planet be destroyed by atom bombs or global warming without a fight. But if we take power I hope that we don't end up with some worse bastard than the one we have now. It is time for the left to quit returning to socialism like a dog to its vomit. Certainly natural resources like the airwaves,and mineral deposits should be the property of the government. And those private utilities should become government property, but there is only one possible economy and that is a market economy.
by
gramps (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 107 comments)
on Wednesday, April 12, 2006 at 11:44:29 AM
Just mention socialism and ' been there done that' is saying ' there is only market economy'. I have news for you, gramps; there is no such thing as 'market'. What market? Name for me at least one price in the US truly being a product of the fair market. " market economy" had become a religion of idiots.
Economy depends on the way the people are used to live and also on the way they are. As eveyone is happy his own way, so is the economy. And what is that nonsense about ' corporations building the Russian steel industry' ? US Steel, Ahoy? Any news from Russia?
Corporations are the children of the ' market economy' and as such they cannot exist without it. You cannot get rid of them because they are the economy. Now as for Condi, who had ever said that corporations cannot breed good dogs for their own usage? Strange, really.
But we do not need revolutions. Here, in the US we need to solve one problem at a time. The first one is Bush. Let's solve that one. Then it will be time to throw stones at each other as a free people always do:)
by
Mark Sashine (54 articles, 19 quicklinks, 252 diaries, 3605 comments)
on Wednesday, April 12, 2006 at 1:22:31 PM
It is going to be hard to explain anything to some one who says there is no market. Where do you buy your banana's? When you get rid of Bush you are going to get sonmeone else who is bought and paid for by the corporations. Rob Kall is right about unions. But if you work for a living and don't belong to one you are screwed. Unions are reformists by their nature; Their object is to get wages and working conditions. If the corporations were all to become cooperative there would be no need for unions. The American working class has become the American middle class because unions have worked fine for them. This is going down the tubes because of globalization and the outsourcing of jobs to where there is cheap labor. Illegal immigration is a result of NAFTA and the WTO when third world countries with agriculture economies are becoming sweatshops and their fragile agricultural economy has been smashed by American corporation farms with heavy machinery and government lobbyists that give them subsidies.
There are two CDs that every progressive should memorize: The Take and The Corporation by Joel Bakan, both are sold at Amazon. The Corporation explains exactly what a corporation is and The Take tells you what to do about it. Since nobody owns a corporation there would be no robbery if the workers took it over and made a cooperative. The stockholders don't own anything except their portfolios and they have joined the ranks of the workers and consumers as victims of the corporation. Their investment in what was once a corporation would entitle them to a share of the cooperative's profits. Nothing would change except that a predatory organization would become a social organization.
by
gramps (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 107 comments)
on Wednesday, April 12, 2006 at 2:16:57 PM
Power struggle and struggle for resources to take had been done under 'market' covert umbrella for years and years. Corporations, I agree, are parasitic conglomerates, but they were designed and are designed by people for a reason. That reason is psychological- it is much better either to hide behind a corporation or on the contrary- to be mad at it because it has LLC and as such is kinda invincible while being at the same time ' invisible'. And that is not true that stockholders own nothing. Money invested is real as well as lives at stake and time elapsed.
But as I said, we can argue and argue forever. What I am saying is that we better concentrate on the priority one. Everyone: working, poor, honest business,professionals, even corporations are screwed by Bush and his cronies because those are the disaster agents. Market or not, we all need to stay alive and that chance is diminishing every day while these folks are cooking their brew. The new one? Well, if we get rid of this one, the new one might learn some lessons.
by
Mark Sashine (54 articles, 19 quicklinks, 252 diaries, 3605 comments)
on Wednesday, April 12, 2006 at 2:38:42 PM
it used to be that a union member was a leftie. Not any more. Almost half the union members who responded to our OpEdNews.com/ Zogby poll responded like republicans and supported right wing causes. I want to support workers and certainly want to wage war with corporatists, at some level, but I have mixed feelings about unionists, since so many have gone to the dark side, supporting right wingers, from PA's Arlen Specter to right wing democrat Bob Casey. The AFL CIO really makes me wonder. I'd like to see them more consistent in their politics. Supporting a republican senator? What were they thinking?
Rob Kall editor, publisher, OpEdNews
by
Rob Kall (869 articles, 4016 quicklinks, 345 diaries, 1847 comments)
on Wednesday, April 12, 2006 at 1:27:00 PM
33% of the people want to get rid of Bush and so do I.
Bush is history. The two reasons for corporations are to get rid of liability and to amass large quantities of other people's money. I had a business that failed due to a rainy season that lasted for six months. I lost everything I had and when I paid off my workers I was back to painting houses. If I had incorporated the business the corporation would still be operating and I wouldn't even have to run it. Union Carbide killed thousands of Indians and after paying off all of the lawsuits took Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the next year posted a profit.
Being a human being and not a corporation I sold eveything I had to pay off my employees. Enron employees are still trying to get their back pay. Corporations are robots programmed for pure greed.
by
gramps (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 107 comments)
on Wednesday, April 12, 2006 at 5:30:14 PM
Getting rid of George Walker Bush is a great way to mobilise people but it will cause no lasting changes in our nation. Bill Clinton was as bad as Bush, in oh so many ways, and none of them having anything to do with fellatio. They both are rather irrelevent to the big picture anyway.
It is the system that is sick, it is the control of the nation by a small number of very wealthy old white men and a couple of oil sheiks that we must address. I fervently believe in the good intentions of the people of these United States, as I believe that they have been cheated and kept in the dark, bought off with some cheap trinkets for which they pay exorbitant credit card interest. They will awaken, and the excrement will hit the air circulation device, you betcha.
That is why it is so very important for activists to understand the enemy, to focus more on the big picture and to work towards lasting change not simply throw one bum out while the real villians retain control.
Gramps:
I would look forward to more from you, I believe that your experience and world view are similar to mine, welcome.
Mr.Sullivan:
Excellent article really.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments)
on Wednesday, April 12, 2006 at 6:13:37 PM
7 comments
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